1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to forming optical fiber devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Optical fiber devices, such as optical fiber cables, are widely used in commercial and personal equipment. In many implementations, the ends of such optical fiber devices exhibit specified configurations. Conventionally, the ends of many such optical fiber devices are ground and polished to achieve the desired configurations. Generally, grinding and polishing operations are time consuming and costly. Because each optical fiber device is processed individually, inconsistencies between optical fiber devices naturally arise. These problems are exacerbated when the optical fibers of such devices being processed are small and in implementations wherein the geometric and/or dimensional characteristics of the fiber optic device end require tight tolerances.
Some optical fiber devices require that ends of two or more optical fibers be optically coupled or joined. Traditionally, the optical fibers are joined using optical resins or the like that are applied to the optical fibers. Conventional optical resins, however, are not compatible with some environments, such as high temperature environments. The optical resins may soften, deteriorate, or otherwise fail to operate properly in such environments. Moreover, the resin joining the optical fibers must be ground and polished to achieve a desired end configuration in some implementations. The grinding and polishing of resin portions that join optical fibers suffer from the same problems discussed above concerning the grinding and polishing of optical fibers.
There are many ways to form optical fiber devices that are well known in the art. However, considerable shortcomings remain.